With Broncos, Case Keenum gets first turn as offensive centerpiece

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Denver Broncos quarterback Case Keenum (4) takes part in a drill during an NFL football minicamp session Tuesday, May 22, 2018, at the team's headquarters in Englewood, Colo.(Photo: David Zalubowski, AP)

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – As Case Keenum has embarked on his first season as an NFL’s team unquestioned starting quarterback, it was last year’s biggest loss that has driven him more so than the surprising success in Minnesota that preceded it.

Keenum won 11 regular-season games as the Vikings’ starting quarterback, eclipsing the mark he had amassed in his previous five seasons combined, before leading Minnesota to a unforgettable divisional-round win over the Saints highlighted by his walk-off touchdown pass.

But against the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game the following week, Keenum threw a pair of interceptions – one that was returned 50 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter and another in the red zone in the fourth quarter – in a 38-7 loss.

“I got close enough to taste it, and it hurt watching one of my best friends play in the Super Bowl,” Keenum said of Eagles quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, his former teammate on the St. Louis Rams. “I love him to death, but that was tough to watch. That taste in my mouth, that sour feeling has fueled a lot this offseason.”

It drove him to sign with the Broncos in free agency (after the Vikings made it clear they would pursue Kirk Cousins), a team that like the 2017 Vikings is driven by its defense. But the offense will have a new look as coordinator Bill Musgrave crafts a playbook that fits Keenum's skills.

It won’t be a carbon copy of former Vikings coordinator Pat Shurmur’s offense, but there should be a heavy dose of play-action and plays designed to move Keenum around and out of the pocket, as the team wants to take advantage of his ability to accurately throw while on the move.

Musgrave said Thursday he’s largely changed the attack, including the language, from what the Broncos ran in the second half of 2017 after he replaced Mike McCoy as the play-caller.

“He can stay on the move and remain a passer. He can process what he sees instantaneously," Musgrave said. "Those are good attributes to have, especially when things break down."

But what’s been fun for Keenum is, for the first time in his career, he can truly take ownership of an offense.

“There's some stuff I've done before, and there's some stuff that is very new to me that I'm very open to learning and adding to my game,” Keenum told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday.

Last year, Shurmur’s playbook was initially built for Sam Bradford, who is much more of a traditional pocket passer than Keenum. With Bradford sidelined for all but two games, the offense tailored on the fly. During his two years with the Rams, Keenum was both the backup (to Foles in 2015) and then the starter (for nine games in 2016 before giving way to No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff).

While training camp and preseason games will give a far more accurate picture of what the revamped Broncos’ offense will look like, and how Keenum will fare in it, the voluntary practices in May have been vital to reconfiguring an offense that finished 17th in yards and 27th in points last season.

Keenum is taking all of the first-team reps, a marked change from the past two seasons in Denver when a quarterback competition stretched into late August.

“It's nice to have the freedom to come out here and compete and really pursue just excellence that I want out of the quarterback position and out of my craft. Just the leadership too that goes along with that,” Keenum said. “It’s not just X's and O's and getting the ball down the field, it's the leadership part of that that helps. It's been great to get to know the guys, get to know the coaches, the team, the city. It's awesome.”